An Unexpected Christmas Gift
by tjmack1986
Summary: Just another Bartowski Christmas-but since when have their Christmases gone on without a hitch?


**A/N: Yeah, so this turned out WAY different than I expected. I thought this would be a funny, cute and light story-not so much. It's a little graphic in parts, you've been warned. I sincerely hope that the characters are IN character- This is only like my second time writing with this many characters... Enjoy! Written for ChloeTarroux on Twitter!**

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><p>Lights filled the apartment. The tree stood tall and proud, off to one corner of the apartment. Christmas lights were strew all across the house, hanging from the ceiling. It was Christmas Eve at the Bartowski house, and Christmas cheer was in full swing.<p>

Morgan Grimes sat on the couch, his legs propped up on the coffee table. A beer clutched tightly in one hand, as his other arm was slung over Alex's shoulders. Her feet were pulled up underneath her body, as she snugged in closer to Morgan's chest. The light hit the ring on her left hand and caused it to glitter off the wall.

Chuck stood in the kitchen with Ellie, watching as she prepared her traditional feast. The ham was cooking in the oven, the yams were cooling in the fridge waiting for the marshmallow topping that would accompany it soon. He carefully lifted the beer bottle to his lips, he took a long pull from it. Sarah was napping in the guest bedroom, and Awesome was running a couple of last minute errands with Clara. They were expecting Casey to show up at any moment, but until then Chuck was content with the silence in the apartment.

"You sure you don't want any help, sis?" Chuck asked as he sat his beer on the counter.

Ellie smiled softly at Chuck, before yanking down the oven door. Staring critically at the ham that was baking inside, she peeked up at him.

"Well, if you want to grab the yams from the fridge, you can go ahead and put the marshmallows on top. The ham's almost done, and I need to pop the yams back in for about ten more minutes. Afterwords, if you want to find out when John's going to show up, that would be great."

"On it." Chuck smiled back.

Striding to the fridge, he opened the appliance and scanned the shelves. Upon locating the pan that contained the yams, he pulled it from the fridge and sat it on the only open counter space, right next to his half finished beer. Chuck turned to his left to grab the marshmallows, and as he turned back his elbow connected with the beer bottle. He watched in almost slow motion as it toppled over. The alcohol covered the gooey potatoes.

"Ah! Dammit!"

Ellie turned toward him, and frowned deeply. Chuck looked up from the mess of the yams to his sister. A sheepish look over took his face.

"I am really sorry, Ellie. Like—really sorry."

She sighed deeply, as she yanked the beer bottle up and tossed it into the trash.

"Go ahead and put the marshmallows on top. Hopefully the beer will cook up in it. Just remember to not let Sarah have any!"

Chuck nodded his head, his hand yanking the bag of marshmallows open. As he started to dump them on top of the yams, a scream was heard from the guest room. As quickly as he could, Chuck dropped the bag of marshmallows and ran toward the room that currently held his wife.

Throwing the door open, with Ellie right on his heels, Chuck knelt down beside the bed.

"Sarah, baby, what's wrong?" His eyebrow knitted together at the mess of liquid that was covering the bed and his wife's lower half.

"My water just broke."

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><p>Sarah's breathing hitched when a contraction soared through her abdomen. Chuck held her hand, as Ellie did what she had called a <em>pre-baby check<em>. The look on her face when her eyes met Chuck did not feel his body with the warm fuzzies. Something was up, and considering the holiday that was rearing it's ugly head tomorrow, it could only be something bad.

"Chuck, can I talk to you outside for a moment." Ellie paused and looked down at the woman who was panting and sweating, and smiled. "Don't worry, Sarah, Alex said she'd take over Chuck duties while I talk to him. Just don't break her hand, okay?"

Ellie tugged on Chuck's arm, as his eyes met Sarah's. _If looks could kill_, briefly ran through his head. "I'll be right back, babe."

Following Ellie, he watched as she carefully closed the door behind her. His arms were crossed against his chest.

"Generally, when you have your first baby labor is long. Upwards of about five or six hours. Sometimes even longer-"

Chuck's foot tapped impatiently. Sarah was already going to kill him for abandoning her. He didn't need Ellie stalling like this. "Ellie, please get on with it. I have a wife in labor who is currently planning the _**multiple**_ ways that she can kill me, or were you forgetting that my wife is a skillful spy. There are about twelve things in that bedroom alone that she could kill me with-"

Ellie held up her hand, only two fingers stood up. "Two things. First; the baby is already starting to crown, which means we don't have time for hospitals-"

Chuck sighed, "And your a doctor. What exactly is the problem?" He was starting to get annoyed, especially after an excruciatingly loud scream from Sarah.

"Which brings me to the second thing. Did the doctor ever tell you guys that the baby was breech?"

Chuck's eyebrows shot up. "Uh—now that you mention it-"

"I can try to turn the baby—but-"

Chuck sighed. Oh, damn this holiday! "Do what you have to-"

Ellie nodded, "Call for an ambulance. We'll need to get Sarah and the baby to the hospital as soon as possible.

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><p>Devon walked into his apartment. A bag in one arm, as Clara was hefted against his other hip. The fact that the apartment was empty scared him deeply. Knowing what Chuck, Casey, and Sarah did for a living only increased this fear. What if some crazy terrorist person had his wife? It was indeed Christmas time, and that holiday never ended well for any of his family members. His mind flashing back to the Christmas spent in the Buy More as Ned wielded a gun. A gun that had shot Casey in the foot.<p>

"El! Chuck! Morgan! Sarah!" His voice grew louder with each name as his panic grew in size.

"Oh, hey Awesome, perfect timing!" Morgan jogged toward him, his small frame had popped out of the guest bedroom. The room that Sarah had been napping in when he left. "Sarah's in labor and Ellie said she could use your help."

Devon heaved a sigh of relief. "Here, take Clara—and for the love of God, don't drop her!" Devon sat the bag down, the frozen food he had purchased completely forgotten as he jogged toward the guest bedroom. A scream ripped through the silent air, just as he shoved the door open. Ellie was knelt down in front of Sarah, who looked at Devon that made his insides curdle. Chuck's eyebrow was slick with sweat, a grimace on his face.

"What's up?" Devon asked as he knelt down beside Ellie. The worried look on her features bothered Devon deeply.

"The baby is breech, Devon. I'm not sure I can turn him. There's an ambulance on the way, but the baby will die if we don't get it out—now."

Devon heaved another sigh. He nodded before making eye contact with Alex.

"Hey, Alex could you do me a fav?" Devon stood, eyed Ellie slightly, before following Alex out of the room.

"What is it?" Alex's eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Call 911, Alex-"

"Chuck already did." A look of confusion on her face.

Devon shook his head. "Tell them that the baby is breech and cannot be turned. Tell them that two licensed doctors had to cut the patient open and retrieve the baby. They'll know what they need to do!"

Alex nodded, as she yanked out her phone.

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><p>Ellie sighed, as she leaned over Sarah. "I am so sorry." A pained look over took her features.<p>

Sarah held a rag in her mouth as Chuck sat beside her. Tears sprang to his eyes, as he held Sarah tightly to keep her from moving.

"Okay, Chuck, we're ready."

Chuck nodded, as he watched Devon press his scalpel to Sarah's bulging stomach and slice in one swift movement. Sarah squirmed as tears flowed from her eyes. Pain evident on her face as she squeezed Chuck's hands tightly. Diving his hands in, Devon felt for the baby. Twisting the body so that it was no longer stuck, he motioned at Chuck.

"Come on, Sarah. Push, just a little." Sarah sat up, her eyes flickering close for a moment. Chuck looked back up at his brother-in-law. "She's losing consciousness-"

Devon sighed. "Okay, no prob, bro." Devon's voice came off calm, even though his hands were shaking.

Reaching back in, Devon nodded for Ellie to join him. After gloving her hands, Ellie reached in and held back Sarah's organs until the baby was visible. This allowed Devon to grab a hold of the baby and yank it up out of Sarah's stomach. Devon snipped the umbilical cord, before taking the baby over to the corner. Ellie finished stitching Sarah up.

Chuck held his breath for a couple of beats before a wail sounded in the house. Tears of joy streamed down his face, as he held Sarah in his arms.

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><p>Morgan noticed the flashing red lights and wailing siren before anyone else did. Alex had nestled Clara into her arms, and the baby had found herself asleep cuddled into Alex's chest. Jumping up, he smiled at his fiancee, "I got it."<p>

Morgan ran to the door and opened it up, and pointed toward the back of the apartment. Devon stood just outside the door and waved the paramedics down. Moving their feet quickly, they arrived to the guest room. Quickly, trying not to jostle Sarah much, they maneuvered her onto the gurney, as Chuck carried out his tiny baby boy. Quickly they were out of the apartment and on their way to the hospital.

"Come on guys, let's head that way. Make sure our family is okay."

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><p>Three hours. That's how long Chuck had been sitting on the hard plastic of the ugly orange chair. Still waiting for news on both his wife and baby boy. Tears had fallen off and on during this time. His family gathered around him, Ellie sitting on his left and Morgan on his right. Ellie held his hand tightly, she had long since given up the whispered promises that everything would be okay. Apparently not even she believed them anymore.<p>

"It's been too long, right?" the way his voice cracked with his words, made him swallow hard.

Ellie shook her head, ever the optimist. "Not necessarily, Chuck. She had a lot of damage and bleeding-"

Out of the corner of his eye, Chuck watched as Ellie closed her eyes and shook her head. He knew her words were lies, pleasantries to make him believe that his wife was going to pull through this. Not that he would blame his sister or brother-in-law. They had done what they could to save her—he sighed.

"Mr. Bartowski?" A voice boomed into the now silent hallway.

Chuck's head flew up almost as quickly as his body. Walking slowly, he stopped in front of the doctor with Ellie still on his left and Morgan on his right. Both of them held his hand, and Ellie squeezed his in reassurance.

"Is—she-" God, he couldn't say the words... it would make it all too real. Far too real!

"Sarah is alive. She's quite the fighter." The doctor smile reassuringly. "She had lost quite a bit of blood, however, what Dr. Woodcomb and Dr. Bartowski did might have just saved your wife's life. The basic explanation here, Mr. Bartowski, is that your wife's placenta tore in the attempt to turn the baby-"

Ellie gasped audibly, her hand over her mouth.

The doctor shook his head and waved a hand in front of himself. "That was not your fault, Dr. Bartowski. The placenta would have torn either way. Whether you tried to turn the baby, or whether she tried to push out the baby. It was just a matter of when. This is what caused most of the bleeding. We were able to stop the bleeding, and Sarah is now stable-"

Chuck's eyes filled with tears. "She's going to be okay?" His voice was soft, weak.

"Your wife is going to be just fine. She is going to have a bit of a recovery period, and she will have to stay in the hospital for a few days, but she will make a full recovery."

Chuck sighed in relief, a smile crossing his lips. "What about my baby?"

The doctor patted his shoulder. "You have a beautiful and healthy baby boy, Mr. Bartowski. He's a little underweight, so we're going to want to keep him for a few days, but I believe he'll be just fine."

Chuck sunk to his knees, as Devon thanked the doctor. Ellie threw her arms around Chuck's neck. "So—perhaps this is the end to our crappy Christmas's?"

Ellie laughed, "Yeah, maybe it is!"


End file.
